STE: Resurrection
by ZenosParadox
Summary: RS friendship. Malcolm shares an Easter memory with Hoshi.


Title: Resurrection   
  
Author: ZenosParadox   
  
Rating: G   
  
Summary: RS friendship. Malcolm shares an Easter memory with Hoshi.   
  
Disclaimer: The character names belong to Paramount. This fiction was written solely for personal enjoyment.   
  
RESURRECTION   
  
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was in the Armory putting away the supplies they had been using to repair the latest damage on the Enterprise. It had been a long, weary day. As he coiled the wire into a neat roll, he noticed the green casing on it. The color was quite appropriate for spring back on Earth. Tomorrow was Easter Sunday, but no one had really noticed on Enterprise.   
  
The green-coated wire in his hand had begun to look like a nest. He held the coil in his hand for a moment and stood staring at it.   
  
Why was he thinking of Easter now? It had been years since he had even noted the holiday. He thought about the letter he had received from his sister Madeline last month. It had explained so much, but he was upset his family hadn't told him sooner. As usual he was out of the loop until the last minute.   
  
-----  
  
Ensign Hoshi Sato walked briskly into the Armory intent on giving the Lieutenant a piece of her mind. He needed to remember that she was capable of assessing risks on her own. She rubbed her bruised shoulder, remembering how he had shoved her out of the way yesterday when the alien had fired at them. Hoshi had known she wasn't the target and she didn't need yet another of the Senior Officers treating her like a kid sister!   
  
And there he was, standing with his attention absorbed by wire. Reed was probably thinking of using it to strangle someone, she thought uncharitably.   
  
"Lieutenant?"   
  
Her harsh tone brought Malcolm out of his thoughts, but not quickly enough to dampen the sad expression in his eyes.   
  
Hoshi abruptly changed her course of action. She cleared her throat and began again. "Is there something wrong with the wire, sir?"   
  
Malcolm looked down for a moment and was about to shake his head no when Hoshi approached him and said, "It's the color of spring grass, isn't it?"   
  
Instead, Malcolm nodded. He would have kept quiet with anyone else, but Hoshi's brown eyes always looked so warm. They invited him to confide in her without effort. "It reminded me of Easter. When we were children, Madeline and I would make a nest for the Easter Bunny."   
  
Hoshi smiled as she considered how this conversation would sound to his Armory crew. She said gently, "Bunnies don't lay eggs."   
  
"Ah, but the Easter Bunny delivers eggs, Ensign. So we'd get the fake grass and set it on the bay window, plumping the nest up just right." Malcolm seemed lost in his memory as he spoke to Hoshi.   
  
"I take it you and Madeline would find an Easter basket in the morning?" Hoshi's voice held a familiar tone of childhood delight and Malcolm looked at her with an indulgent smile. He realized he missed sharing these moments, rare though they were, with his own sister.   
  
"The baskets would magically appear, but we knew Mum had thought about everything she put into the baskets."   
  
"Did you get the marshmallow Peeps? Jelly beans? Chocolate eggs? Confectionary eggs?" Hoshi's smile widened as Malcolm nodded to every item she listed.   
  
"Mum would always put my father's favorite candy egg in each basket. Madeline and I would have big arguments over who got to give him the candy first, but we always ended up doing it together."   
  
Hoshi thought she saw Malcolm blink twice quickly. He looked down for a moment and she said softly, "It sounds like a nice tradition."   
  
"I--my--In that one moment when we gave the candy to Father, the only thing that mattered was that he'd smile at us and say thanks. All the conflicts of the past year wouldn't matter."   
  
"A sense of peace," said Hoshi with a nod that indicated she understood.   
  
But Malcolm had not felt that peace in many years. His father understood why he had opted for Starfleet, but was disappointed his son had not faced his fears. Stuart Reed liked to pretend Malcolm had found the sea to be deficient rather than a source of fear. The elder Reed couldn't let other people know that his son feared drowning--or why the fear had grown in Malcolm.   
  
"You should contact them, Malcolm," said Hoshi. "If you want I can--"   
  
"No, no, I haven't heard from Father since we shipped out. He has his reasons," said Malcolm insistently. Then he felt embarrassed about revealing such a silly tradition and certainly didn't want to dampen Hoshi's bright spirits with his own worries. He changed the subject by saying, "What did you want to see me about, Hoshi?"   
  
"Oh, I was just going to see if you were ready for dinner. Since you pulled the protective brother act with me yesterday," Hoshi was satisfied to see Malcolm's blush. Obviously he, too, understood he had treated her like a child. She continued, "I decided I'd bug you for a bit like a sister would."   
  
"I deserved that. Let me put his away," said Malcolm as he opened the locker. "But, I warn you, no one could be as annoying as Madeline. She has a real talent."   
  
The two officers walked out of the Armory. Inside the locker, the coil of green wire lay on the bottom of the locker like a nest.   
  
~~~~~   
  
It was Easter Sunday, but no one aboard Enterprise seemed to notice. Malcolm walked to the Armory and tried to avoid looking at the corner locker, but his eyes kept straying to it as he thought about the coiled, green wire.   
  
He was too old for this! Even Madeline had stopped making the nest. No, he was going to ignore the compulsion to open the locker. It would be painful to see the reality for there would be nothing in this tomb. The empty chamber would not signify a resurrection.   
  
The pressure to open the locker did not diminish as the morning wore on. Malcolm found himself looking at the locker constantly. Fine. He would open the locker and put the coil of wire on a hanger instead of on the bottom looking like a nest. That would do the trick.   
  
Malcolm opened the locker and held still. In the coil of wire was a small, cloth bunny. It had been made from a pink sock, cleverly cut so that ears could be pulled back. The eyes and mouth were sewn into a happy expression. A tight string created the head while the body was stitched so that it appeared to have little paws. It literally had a cottontail and Malcolm was certain this feature had been obtained from sickbay.   
  
Malcolm reached for the little bunny, but found more in the nest of green wire when he picked it up. Sitting to one side was a field ration of pineapple cobbler. And on the other side was a data card!   
  
"I wonder who made you?" said Malcolm as the pink bunny beamed up at him. He took the data card to his console, set the bunny in front of the screen since she was obviously his guest, and opened the pineapple cobbler.   
  
"Malcolm, I know I haven't sent you a letter in a while. I just wanted you to know that-- it's not fatal, Malcolm. The doctors found a lump, but the chemotherapy worked very well. I just didn't want you to see me when I was so weak. You'll understand. Well, your Mum's baking the ham with all the pineapples studded on it. I even feel like eating again, got my appetite back. Pineapple was always my favorite, you know. Well, take care, son. I should be better about contacting you now."   
  
The man on the screen looked thinner than Malcolm remembered, but the color had been good. Malcolm shut off the image and turned to the little pink bunny. It was another example of resurrection for it certainly had become useless as a sock.   
  
Malcolm finished the pineapple cobbler, poked the bunny gently in the tummy and said, "Thank you, Hoshi."   
  
-----  
  
Hoshi was eating lunch when the pink bunny made her appearance. She watched as it hopped across the edge of the table. Between her ears was a bright red gerbera daisy from hydroponics. It made the bunny look quite exotic while the grin made it appear rather saucy.   
  
Malcolm opened Hoshi's hand to receive the Easter Bunny and enclosed the bunny with the flower into her hand.   
  
Hoshi smiled up at Malcolm. "You're welcome."   
  
*****  
  
Author Notes:  
  
Written April 1, 2003. 3 pages, and posted at LD. It began as a snippet in the Easter Baskets thread in the R/S forum at LD, but I liked the exchange, so I expanded the story.  
  
I know it's not Easter, so thanks for reading the story. No reviews are necessary. 


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